After skipping land mines to victory, Supreme Court affirms Tinubu election

Tuesday Column By VICTORIA NGOZI IKEANO 

vikeano@yahoo.co.uk 08033077519

By far the most important date in the past year for Nigeria was October 26 when the country’s highest court, the Supreme Court gave the final verdict on the contentious February 25, 2023 election. It had been a long drawn legal battle which was also fought out in the social media by supporters, laced with a tinge of fake news. However, Nigeria’s Chief Justice, CJ Olukayode Ariwoola had let it be known that judges would not be swayed by social media noise or public opinion but would be guided by the law. And in a last ditch effort to upturn Tinubu’s election after the Presidential Election Tribunal had dismissed all petitions by the opposition parties, PDP’s candidate, former vice president Atiku Abubakar travelled all the way to United States, hiring US lawyers. His mission: to dig up issues about “discrepancies” in Tinubu’s Chicago State University certificate and related matters. It was considered a trump card by PDP and so much talk was made about it. In the end the Supreme Court declined this ‘new evidence’, stating that it was not among PDP’s petitions at the lower court. Its duty was to review the Tribunal’s decision as per the petitions presented there. In the end too, the Supreme Court agreed with the lower court’s judgment affirming Tinubu as duly elected and winner of the February poll.
All five judges at the Presidential Election Tribunal Court (PETC) had unanimously concurred in throwing out the petitions and upholding Tinubu’s election. On the much touted 25 per cent requirement of total FCT votes, the judges ruled that a vote by any FCT resident is same as that of anyone in any part of the country, that votes by Abuja residents do not carry any special weight above those of other states. On the alleged forfeited drug money, the Tribunal judges held that there was no record anywhere in the United States that Tinubu was arrested, prosecuted and convicted on the matter, clarifying further that it was a civil, not criminal case. They affirmed that the defendant, Tinubu was qualified to contest as a candidate for the election. Regarding irregularities during the election for which the petitioners called for its cancellation, the judges averred that the elections conformed ‘’substantially’’ with the extant electoral act. They did not say that there were no infractions nor did they say that the election was perfect. Their point was that the number of infractions in comparison to the total number of voting centres was insignificant to nullify the election in its totality. Other grounds of the petitioners’ were waved off for lack of (credible) evidence. This was the first time that winner of a presidential election was being challenged by three political parties and their candidates. Over the years it had always been one opposition party and its candidate.
From the very beginning when Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Jagaban of Borgu kingdom and former governor of Lagos , Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre signalled his intention to vie for Nigeria’s topmost position, hurdles had been placed to the right and left of him to make him fall by the wayside and thus scuttle his ambition. But he scaled over them deftly. He thereby confounded his critics. Result of the presidential election was not surprising for someone like Asiwaju who had been preparing for decades, building up political capital towards such a day. The battle for who should take over from then President Muhammadu Buhari within the APC’s fold started surreptitiously when Buhari constituted his cabinet in November 2015. Recall that Babatunde Fashola was assigned three portfolios, namely, Works, Housing and Power, thereby making him a ‘super minister’. The plan it was learnt, was to empower him to be able to challenge Tinubu in the next cycle of elections. Recall also that in the initial years as ‘super minister’ there was some friction between federal and Lagos governments over federal projects in the state, notably federal roads and abandoned federal assets. However, over time this frosty relationship was upturned and Minister Fashola played a prominent role in Jagaban’s victory, being in charge of the situation Room. One can say that Asiwaju effectively ‘killed’ the plot to groom one of his godsons as a presidential candidate.
And planning ahead, Tinubu had succeeded in getting one of his allies(former Edo state governor, Adams Oshiomhole) to take over from the pioneer APC chairman, Oyegun. Having a buddy as the ruling party’s chairman is one of the powerful structures an APC aspirant should count on his side since the Party’s National Working Committee led by its Chairman is the organ that organises primary election to pick the party’s flag bearer. Somehow Asiwaju’s opponents within the APC sniffed the scent and succeeded in convincing then President Muhammadu Buhari to dissolve the Oshiomhole-led APC NWC before expiration of its tenure. It was replaced by an Interim Committee chaired by the Yobe State governor, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni Although this Committee was to last for only six months, it had its tenure extended again and again. This was amidst complaints by some chieftains that it was an aberration because a political party should be run by elected officials. As the timeline given by INEC for conduct of primaries by political parties drew nearer, it became imperative for the Buni-led Interim Commiittee to hand over to elected officials. And so the machinery for this was put in motion. Interested APC members began their campaigns in earnest in anticipation of a battle royale. Tinubu’s camp of course had a candidate they were supporting and hoped would win. But in the 11th hour former Nasarawa state governor, Turakin Keffi, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu joined the race as Mr. President’s preferred Chairman, the consensus candidate. With installation of a chairman that is not beholden to him, Tinubu’s opponents within the party apparently thought they were having an upper hand as preparations for the primaries to pick the party’s presidential flag bearer gathered momentum.
During the APC’s primary in 2022, he contested against some 13 aspirants including one thrown up by the party itself. Buhari did not endorse him per se. Yet, he won that primary election with a wide margin. His Muslim-Muslim ticket was vehemently opposed by some sections of the country and the opposition parties sought to make political capital out of it, making it a campaign issue. Still, Tinubu trudged on. Then just weeks to the election proper, the ruling party allowed a debilitating fuel scarcity and a strangulating cash scarcity to persist, policies that would ordinarily make the masses dislike the ruling party and any candidate connected with it. Yet, he emerged victorious. It was amazing. He flunked his opponents during the Tribunal and Supreme Court hearings. Thus miracle upon miracle had been occurring for Tinubu. After skipping the landmines, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is now steadying himself on the Villa seat, some eight months after being sworn-in. Next month, February, would mark the one year anniversary of that momentous presidential election. How time flies.